Off-site Parking At The Dulles Airport- Is It Worth it?
I fly out from Dulles International Airport (IAD) a few times each year and need parking for 3 to 4 weeks each time. In all this time, I have been parking at the Dulles economy parking lot for $10 per day (so $ 210 for three weeks). Off late, I have been traveling a lot and wanted to explore cheap alternatives.
I found a few off-site parking options with large numbers of positive reviews. The Crown Plaza at Herdon was one of the options that offers cheap parking. However after some digging I found that Crown Plaza and many other hotels in the Dulles area, use the Kohl's parking lot. Gottapark is one such company that advertises heavily and also uses the parking structure at Kohl’s. While I was initially excited about the idea of off-site parking I ended up not my booking because of the following reasons:
I found a few off-site parking options with large numbers of positive reviews. The Crown Plaza at Herdon was one of the options that offers cheap parking. However after some digging I found that Crown Plaza and many other hotels in the Dulles area, use the Kohl's parking lot. Gottapark is one such company that advertises heavily and also uses the parking structure at Kohl’s. While I was initially excited about the idea of off-site parking I ended up not my booking because of the following reasons:
- You will need to change the shuttle twice before reaching the airport. First a shuttle will pick you up from the parking lot and drop you at the hotel. From there, another shuttle will pick you up and drop you at the airport.
- The shuttles may or may not come or they may come late. Unless you have plenty time for your flight, I don't recommend waiting indefinitely for a shuttle.
- The price advertised is not what they charge your card. I was almost about to book a $5 per day rate when I realized there was a whopping tax plus a "service charge."- this is not mentioned anywhere on the website, or even during checkout/payment.
- The reviews don't appear genuine. Take a look - gottapark.com. There is absolutely no way during the process you can leave one of these reviews. All those reviews conveniently omit information such as how often the shuttles run, wait time, service fees, etc.
- The difference between Dulles parking and off-site parking was $40. Not enough of a difference for the hassle.
In my option, the whole process (parking at kohls, getting to Crowne Plaza, waiting for your shuttle then getting to the airport) would take ages. Even worse on the way back when you are tired after a long international flight. Long story short, it would have been a savings of $40 for three weeks of parking. Given the lack of info about shuttles, IAD long term economy seems the better and safer bet.